Last month, our Linux sandbox server died—presumably from heat prostration. So while we were shopping around for a new one, we thought: “wouldn’t it be better if we just built the server ourselves rather than ordering some pre-fab system that doesn’t really suit our needs?” (tons of fans, Debian Lenny/Linux, small, etc.). The parts arrived a few days later. Above is a gallery of the server construction. I’m happy to report that for the last few weeks, the server has been quietly humming without any problems.

Here’s a the step-by-step process of the server’s installation. Below the gallery, you can see a list of the parts we ordered.